Sunday, June 21, 2015

Return of the Texan (Fox, 1952)

Is it a
Western? Is it not a Western? Well, really, when it comes down to it, does it
matter?

Of
course it matters, you fool!

Yes, of
course it matters. This is a Western blog, after all.

Well,
when the opening scene is of a Jeep bowling along, the Westernista’s heart does
sink a bit. I remember, when I was a callow youth (somewhere in the Bronze
Age), buying a Roy Rogers comic, as one did in those days, and there was Roy – no sign of
Trigger – driving across the desert in a cloud of dust – in a jeep! Shocked
wasn’t the word, dear e-pards, I was traumatized! No, jeeps really won’t do.

Still,
this movie is directed by Delmer Daves, stars Dale Robertson, has Walter Brennan
as the crusty old grandpa, and Richard Boone is the bad guy. Dudley Nichols
wrote it. There are horses and guns. A Western surely?

Kinda.

And
actually, in point of fact, I have always liked jeeps. I saw one the other day
and although one of the few commandments I have never been guilty of transgressing
is the one about my not coveting my neighbor’s ox (I really haven’t),
still, I did rather covet that jeep. Anyway, where were we?

Return of the Texan is not a Western for another reason, though, jeeps
notwithstanding. It’s a bucolic tale of a widower returning home with two small
sons, settling in and finding love with Joanne Dru. It’s a love story, pards, a
love story, and not a Western at all. Sorry to disappoint you.

Oh well.
It is enjoyable, though. I like the littlest boy, about whose only utterance
is, “Sure!” and the dance is fun and there’s an element of end-of-the-West
as Brennan can’t really adapt to not huntin’ and shootin’, and suffers a
stroke. And Boone gets his come-uppance.

The
young doc (Robert Horton), Dale’s rival for Joanne’s hand, is damnably decent,
a really good egg, and that makes it harder. It all ends well for Dale, though,
with Joanne in the rocking chair of his erstwhile spouse. The trouble, however,
with this film, and it’s something that ruined many a movie, is that it is,
aagghh, heart-warming.